hondo in seattle

I'm excited too... but cautious. As far as our rushing attack was concerned last year, I thought there was a kind of alchemic genius in the combination of Roman's play design, Lynn's play-calling, Shady's running, and Tyrod's dynamism. Shady enjoyed the best ypc of his career. And the Bills remarkably scored 27 points per game when Lynn was calling plays and TT was under center - despite Taylor's limitations as a passer. I have to wonder if Dennison can match that production? And it'll be interesting to see what kind of OC Dennison will be now that he's working for a defensive HC who is not the de facto offensive coordinator. I like that Dennison has history with a run-heavy WCO since we have more running skills on our roster than passing skills. You've made some guess as to what a Rico offense will look like. Probably good guesses. But no one really knows because (1) he's never entirely run his own offense before, and (2) he's going to have to adapt to new players, each with their own unique skill sets. As a Bills fan, I always hope for the best but fear the worst.

I can't imagine a reason why Whaley would have a strong personal opinion on this. And Rex seemed to like have old-timers around. So my guess is that Danny Crossman was worried that Christie's coaching would not line up with his own. And then Rex and Doug supported Crossman - which would be the right thing to do.

Stevie had a certain chemistry with Fitz and sometimes I thought it worked like this: Fitz threw the ball out there somewhere and let Stevie go get it. Stevie was good at that. He was never good at running designed routes.

Excellent point. And good vid to illustrate the point.

Ryan, why are you enamored with the phrase "fan boy" Does it make you feel good to demean people who disagree with you with that term? Does it help your ego? I like this site. It's a place where we can be informed about the Bills, share ideas, commiserate when things go badly, celebrate when things go well. We've all shared the misery of the drought together. We don't need to add to each other's misery with name-calling. The insults don't add to the soundness of your arguments nor to the enjoyment of this site.

I once heard a scout say that no college QBs are ready to play in the NFL - they all need to improve something. And that's why, he went on, drafting a QB is so difficult. None are sure bets. You draft the guy who needs the least improvement or has the highest ceiling. But you can never be sure if they're going to develop the skills they're missing while in college. Some do, most don't.

Not your fault, but I'm really learning to hate the word "bridge" when used as an adjective for QBs. Call him whatever you want, but I want the best QB available. If that's TT, then so be it. If we can upgrade from TT, great. But let's not put some bum under center hoping that we'll eventually draft a franchise QB. I want DW to get us the best starting 11 on offense and defense that he can put together.

Yep, lots of QBs need a few years to hit their peak. Matt Ryan, for example, just had - by far - the best season of his career. While I see the same flaws in TT that others see, I also advocate keeping him. The sad truth is that franchise QBs are hard to find. We haven't had one since Jim Kelly. If we ditch Tyrod, we may wait 5, 10, 20 years more for a franchise QB. I think we keep TT until someone beats him out. I think the rule of thumb is: play the best players you can sign. As flawed as TT is, even finding someone that good can be hard. Let's count our blessings but at the same time draft QBs with greater frequency than we have in the past. You build a winning culture by winning. Right now, TT gives us the best chance.

Sully, as always, cracks me up... "The Bills should be willing to take a step back and find a real franchise QB in the draft. If McDermott is such a smart guy, he should recognize that and want to build a real contender." When Sully says "If McDermott is such a smart guy," he's clearly saying, "If McDermott is as smart as I am, he'd reach the same conclusions I've already reached." Sully, who's never played or coached a down of professional football, thinks he can evaluate QBs better than Coach McDermott. This is laughable. I do agree with Sully, though, later in the article when he writes: "A little humility might be in order."

Franchise QBs are extremely rare - maybe 8 or 10 in the entire world. They command top money. Average NFL QBs are almost as rare - maybe an additional dozen. They command big paychecks too.

The word "overblown," though, is just one more media report. While I do think JW is much more credible than his media brethren, I have to wonder how much he actually knows. I think there's an effective gag order in place on the shakers and movers at OBD until they make a final decision. I don't think JW or any other media guy has substantive inside information. In other words, I'm dubious about any of the reports of a 'chasm' developing on the TT issue between the FO and the coaching staff. In fact, my guess is that this whole poopstorm about a division between the FO and coaching staff is a media fabrication. That's not to say I believe everyone on the Bills payroll is in agreement. Why would they be? Fans and NFL commentators don't agree so I don't expect the folks at OBD agrees about Tyrod either. I just think there's a very good chance the McD versus DW story is a media invention. Given my experience, I just don't trust the media very much.

I don't agree with all this but it's refreshing to see a thread that's not about dumping Tyrod or firing Whaley.

I mostly agree. Taylor is probably not the guy to lead us to the promised land and we need to keep looking. And yet I want to keep Taylor. I believe the way to build a winning team is to play the best player you can find at every position. TT is the best QB we have. Until he gets beat out, the position is his. And, sadly, if you look at our history at the QB position, it seems to tell us that the odds are we won't find a better QB anytime soon. QB is so important, I think we have to keep Taylor but at the same time keep drafting QBs until we find his replacement. As an organization, we just haven't spent enough draft capital on the QB position over the years and that needs to change.

I disagree completely - especially when that smoke is blowing out the axxes of sports media guys. When I was in the army, I was in some high profile operations where some of the media reports couldn't have been further from the truth. To make the matter worse, some of the way-off-base reporting was in highly regarded outlets such as the NYT and Washington Post. I've been extremely skeptical of the media ever since. This particularly report about the Bills come from La Canfora who has a track record of reporting things that are factually inaccurate. I think it's funny that some people are already blaming Brandon or Whaley for the divisiveness at OBD when none of us actually has the slightest info on what's really going on there.

I think LaCan does what he does: packages speculation as something more. Fans, ex-players, ex-coaches, and talking heads in the media are all divided on TT. Some say the Bills should keep him, others say let him go. LaCan sees this and makes the reasonable assumption that the folks at OBD are divided too. But then he simplifies it as FO versus coaching staff. I suspect the situation is more complicated. I think there are folks in the FO that want to keep TT and probably some coaches who aren't confident in TT. I'm guessing that some guys at OBD are divided in their own minds and aren't entirely sure which course of action is best. But a FO-versus-coaching-staff story is more compelling and so that's the story LaCan invents.

Maybe we should ban posts based on LaCan articles and tweets.

Yep. One reporter, just speculating, says the Bills intend to keep TT. Another reporter, just speculating, says the Bills intend to cut/trade TT. Next reporter, looking at those two reports, says Bills can't make up their minds. In fact, none of these reports are based on any inside information whatsoever. I think the Bills are waiting till the deadline because there's no good business reason not to wait till the deadline. But there may indeed be some disagreement. Fans and football gurus alike are divided on Tyrod, why not OBD too? In your defense, you're probably not aware of the 1,063 Tyrod threads that preceded yours this off-season. Jack Kemp.

Sure. And if they're negotiating with TT to restructure his contract, it makes no sense to publicly commit to him until the deal is done. The Bills supposedly want to restructure and the only leverage they have is that Tyrod wants to stay in Buffalo. Why take that little bit of leverage away?

How much more does TT give you for the money? Good question. I think the QB position is so important that the little more that TT brings versus the other alternatives is in fact worth the tens of millions. And I think McD isn't giving out ringing endorsements of TT because they're in the middle of negotiations. I'm guessing the Bills are asking TT to restructure. I think TT wants to stay with the Bills and the Bills know that so they're using that as their only leverage. If Tyrod doesn't think the threat of being cut is credible, he won't restructure. So the Bills almost certainly asked McD not to say anything in public about TT being the QB of the future or his desire for that. The more tentative Tyrod feels about his position right now, the better. They can kiss and make up later.

You can talk crap leading up in the game - that's what fans are supposed to do! Just don't gloat when the Bills lose.

My first thought too. Both Glennon and Daniel get paid $7 million/year to be backups. Guys from the Fran Tarkenton - Dan Fouts era must cry when they read what 2nd string QBs get paid today. Good research but TT's salary still doesn't scare me. 13 QBs (mostly on older contracts) will make more money. In other words, Tyrod will be paid as an average/mediocre starting QB which is what he is right now (passing and running skills combined). As more QBs get new contracts - given typical QB salary inflation - Tyrod's ranking could drop lower down the list. I get the opportunity cost thing - the more money we spend on TT, the less we have to spend elsewhere. But given the importance of the QB position, I don't want to pay less for a guy who brings less.

Johnny, we're a band of brothers here. We all share a love of the Bills. We all share the misery of the drought. We don't need to add to that misery with personal attacks. That kind of stuff just makes this board unpleasant for everyone. I was disappointed when KW didn't work out. Every team needs a good backup RB and MG stepped up beautifully. Not sure he's really a NFL starter but certainly deserves to be in a rotation. It would be great to see him and Shady play tag-team for a couple more years.

You've got to love the reporting... The Bills can't seem to make up their mind When you translate newspeak into regular English it comes out something like this, "Uninformed reporters continue to produce conflicting reports based on mere speculation."

Thanks Scott for creating a home & forum for our Bills Band of Brothers. I enjoy this site enough to visit every day. And welcome to all the BBMB refugees!

When I first read this: "We’re going to exhaust every resource, every avenue, and every option available to us.” I had two thoughts... 1. McD means what he seems to be saying - that a trade is a possibility a la the article. 2. The Bills are negotiating with Tyrod to restructure his contract. Their only leverage they have is that he wants to remain as the Bills starting QB. So they're not committing to him publicly - even if they've already secretly decided to stick with him regardless. I lean toward #2. In either case, McD said what he was schooled to say. His answer was not spontaneous without forethought or prior planning.